3 responses to “Vote for Your “Favorite” Recession Photo”

#’s 17, 25 and 26. #17 because I’m so tired of how poorly the American car companies handled their business up to this point — there’s a reason Honda and Toyota don’t need a buyout; it’s because they paid attention to the economy beyond their walls, whereas GM only worried about their own pocketbooks. But it still sucks.

#25 because I have family in Gilbert, AZ, so that picture brings it real close to home. My sister’s school district alone is facing a $125M budget shortfall for next schoolyear. One school district. $125 MILLION. That’s unreal.

#26 because I lived in Denver, and the Rocky Mountain News was an institution. But more than that, it is horribly unfortunate to see how besieged the newspaper industry is. Pictures like this only bring clarity to it.

25 and 26 resonate for me. In 25, it’s clear that not only the houses aren’t sold but the homebuilder went under as well. It’s like a turn on the old photos of deserted homes in “dustbowl” times except these are new, not fully constructed phones. A caveat, though: living in Phoenix, these are mostly homes way out in the far reaches of the suburbs. Still, it’s unheard of here. 26 twists my reality a little because, after all, there is always news. I realize online media (here we all are) is in part to blame, but imagine a local stalwart radio station (like WMT back there) disappearing from the air. Some big names (Rocky Mtn., Seattle P-I) are gone, the latter at least in print. The finality of it is a little jolting. Perhaps the strangest part of it all is that I see other businesses which are operating as if nothing bad has happened.